A Darker Shade of Green
by Csillan.Rose
Summary: Someone is after ultimate power, and Loki holds the key to finding it. But when Loki's memory is lost to him, only his redemption can retrieve what his soul has hidden. Will be Loki/Jane Foster, Avengers Spoilers
1. Prologue

_**A Darker Shade of Green  
**_

-CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS-

Summary: Thanos is after ultimate power, and Loki holds the key to finding it. But when Loki's memory is lost to him, only his redemption can retrieve what his soul has hidden. Will be Loki/Jane Foster.

A/N: Hello everyone! Wow, I haven't written fanfiction in... oh God, 5, 6, 7 years? But of course, Avengers got to me and now Loki won't leave me alone until I mess with a few plot bunnies so that I feel better. I apologize for how dark and vague this chapter is. _Following chapters will have a considerably lighter tone_ and will contain explanations! It will also be _primarily romance_ later on, even though this chapter is very... not? Also my apologies for mutilating any Marvel canon.

* * *

**Prologue**

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

Loki hissed in pain as the venom sizzled into his skin, leaving raised welts trailing after it. The cell floor was dank and cold, and the slim window cut into the stone above him afforded barely any light. The venom seeped in from the grate above him, slowly and unevenly so that he could not guess when the next drop would fall. At first he'd had many visitors. Some had come out of curiosity, others came seeking answers. A few he was sure came only to gloat, and he silently cursed their smiling faces. His horrific punishment, however, assured that not many smiled for long, and it was the burning pity in Sif's eyes that haunted Loki's dreams at night.

His face twisted into a snarl of pain and anger. _Pity. _How dare she pity him. She had no reason, no right. None of them did.

Through the pain, Loki heard the sharp clack of the cell door being unlocked, and he didn't have to look up to know who it was. Thor was the only one who ever visited him anymore, but his visits came unwaveringly and persistently. And every single time, he asked the same question.

Loki glanced up through his eyelashes, his eyes green embers burning, _daring_ Thor to ask again. But he would never answer, for if he did, he knew his story would be twisted and used against him.

It always was.

Thor flinched even more than Loki when the next drop of venom made its burning trail down his brother's back. He bit his lower lip, that damnable pity showing clearly in his perfect blue eyes, which were tearing up as usual. How typical. And then, constant as clockwork, the question fell brokenly from his lips.

"_Why?"_

Loki screwed his eyes shut as the memories flooded in.

_He was being pulled in every direction, extending infinitely across space while existing nowhere at all. He couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, couldn't think, and in the span of the moment it took for him to fall through the wormhole, he lived through a lifetime of pain. Something was there, in the in-between world. Something found him. Something whole, beautiful, intriguing. Something that his soul reached for, that his being snatched before it finally thudded into numbing darkness._

_Fragmented recollections followed. Waking up in captivity, knowing that a portion of his memory was missing, had been intentionally locked away in his own mind. They tortured him. Endless pain as he laughed hysterically, knowing that what they sought was beyond their reach because it was beyond his. It was there, smooth and cold in his mind, but the pain scattered his wits and he was unable to retrieve it. Soon, the pain washed away the memory of how to recover it entirely._

_They were angry with his refusal to cooperate. They found new and interesting ways to torture him, never letting the pain become so monotonous as to become forgettable. And in the end, he had given in. He had helped them, had _wanted _to help them. They promised the glory, honor, and respect he was due, while simultaneously promising more pain for failure. But whatever he had received in that place between worlds was lost to him, and so they made due with a new target. The tesseract._

_It was easy to control the weak minded humans, to manipulate them into doing as he wanted. And he had been close… so close…_

_The promise of pain, of destruction lingered in his mind. And now, they would come for him. And this time, with the tesseract lost to them, they would find a new way to break him and take what they truly wanted. And there was no way to stop it._

"_Why?"_ his brother pleaded.

Slowly, Loki smirked. And as always, the question went unanswered.

*l*l*l*l*l*l*l*

Thor wearily paced the throne room, avoiding his father's eye. His brother's silence troubled him. Loki had never been one to withhold words, true or otherwise. A false explanation he could have dealt with, even an explanation along the lines of "I was bored and I wanted to." But the silence was disturbing and foreboding, and Thor sensed a coming storm.

Running a hand through his hair, Thor finally turned to Odin, who had been watching him intently. "Father, I—"

He was interrupted as the palace shook, nearly sending him to his knees. Odin leapt to his feet, only to be knocked down again as another blast shook the room. Thor's grasp tightened around Mjolnir's handle as he moved to help his father. As they moved together towards the door, it burst open, revealing Heimdall. His eyes were solemn and his mouth was set into a grim line. "Forgive me, I did not see them until it was too late." He bowed his head, "The attack force is made up of an alien race that you have dealt with before," his orange eyes glanced to Thor, "called the Chitauri. But they are not in command, and their leader is… in Shadow. They have already acquired something from the weapons room, a golden gauntlet. But their true target is locked in the cells below the palace."

Thor's eyes widened as he made the connection.

"Loki."

*l*l*l*l*l*l*l*

Loki jerked back against the wall as the door at the end of the passageway splintered. They had come for him, as he knew they would. He struggled vainly against his bonds, but they wouldn't budge. The Chitauri leading the way smiled sickeningly, revealing rows of sharp teeth as he leisurely advanced on the prisoner.

With a deafening roar, Thor swept into the room. Mjolnir flashed once, twice, sending its victims flying in several directions. "Brother!" Thor unlocked the cell door and began removing the bonds that held Loki in place, intent on moving him to a more secure location. "Are they here to rescue you?" he demanded angrily as his brother slumped against him.

"No," Loki rasped, his voice hoarse from disuse, "they are here to punish me." Finally free from the flow of the venom, Loki succumbed to the darkness. Thor caught his unconscious brother, concern and fear marring his features. He turned to find Odin in the doorway.

"Heimdall says the Chitauri's current master is after something Loki has but cannot reach. He does not know what. But one thing is clear—they must not get it from him." Odin moved to his two sons and softly lay a hand on the younger's fevered brow. "He is not safe here. We were not prepared for this attack."

"What will you do?" Thor asked, frowning.

"Remove his memory to neutralize the threat that Loki himself poses. Then I must send him somewhere. Somewhere they won't think to look for him—somewhere safe." Odin gently smoothed back Loki's jet black hair, "Somewhere where he can regain a sense of his true self, away from the pain of past mistakes."

Thor cast about but was only able to think of the one person who had helped him when he had needed it most. He was hesitant, but they were short for time and he could think of nowhere better.

"Jane," he said softly, "Send him to Jane."

* * *

A/N: This first chapter is very short, but it was only the prologue and it had to end there. Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think, and if you're interested in reading more. Remember, this *is* a Loki/Jane fanfic despite the Also, as a side note, the title is subject to change.


	2. Chapter One

A/N: Thank you to all of my reviewers! I wasn't too sure about this story, and I'm definitely still a little bit rusty, but you guys made me want to keep going :) I think this chapter is a little bit slow. Sorry it's a little late-I meant to post it yesterday, but then work made me tired and uncreative. Thanks for your support!

* * *

**Chapter One**

Jane Foster sat with her feet tucked up under her on the beat up couch in her trailer. The large book that sat propped open on her lap lay open on a page that rambled in a dry, uninterested tone about the translation of the word _Bifröst _from Norse mythology. It was clear that the author had no true fascination for the subject, and was twitching to get back to the many names and appearances of Odin, the All-Father. At first Jane had found the subject interesting as well—after all, Odin was Thor's father, and there were many different interpretations of his character. But after months of research with very little uncovered on the topic she sought—the rainbow bridge—she was sick of wading through tales of war and battle.

Finally snapping the book shut, she ran a frustrated hand through her disheveled hair and wished for the millionth time that Eric was with her. She wanted—_needed_ him to explain yet again why Thor had come and gone from Earth without so much as a "How have you been?"She knew it was petty of her. She knew that he had a lot going on in his family, that they were quite possibly on the brink of war because of his brother's meddling. But still, he could not have told her in person? Surely it wouldn't have taken too much more effort on his part.

Jane stood and paced the room, her eyes flitting to the pile of notes stacked on her coffee table. Clearly the Bifrost wasn't the only path to Asgard, as she had previously believed. It was supposedly broken, and yet both Thor and his brother had managed to make it to Earth despite that fact. Eric had mentioned something about Thor's brother using the shadow ways or something obscure and mystical like that, but Jane wanted explanations and solid evidence. She was told they used a high energy object to return. So what happened then? What did they do to the object that Thor never used it to visit? Eric had mumbled something about it being the reason behind the attack on Earth. He said it was dangerous, and they had taken it to a secure location where they were researching how to destroy it.

Jane frowned. That always seemed to be the answer to everything, didn't it? Can't understand it, well then, we'd better smash it. Not that Thor's only answer to things was to hit them with his hammer, her mind backtracked quickly and reassured itself. She'd just meant that… well…

She sighed. It was frustrating being out of the loop, and if they weren't going to let her in nicely, then she would find her own way in. Jane reached for another book, this one on wormholes, but the moment her fingers brushed its cover the ground shook and her lights flickered out.

Jane groaned and stumbled in the partial dark to her door to go check the breaker. It was cloudy, and so only a little light was able to filter into her trailer. She found the door handle and gave it a rough shove to dislodge the door from the frame. She really needed a new door—this one always stuck, and as the weather grew warmer it only got worse.

She only got one foot outside, however, when something crumpled under her foot. Frowning, she bent down to pick up a piece of—parchment? Cloth? Whatever it was, it had large square formal writing on it. Jane unraveled it the rest of the way.

_Dearest Jane,_

_Once before you were able to help me, and now I must turn to you again. This man's name is Niall. He lost his memory in a terrible battle and must remain somewhere safe for the time being. Do not allow anyone involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. to know he is here. Please take care of him. He is very dear to me._

_Thor_

Jane stared at the writing for a moment in shock. This was some sort of sick joke, right? She glanced around for the perpetrator, but then realized that no normal person would speak so casually of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Thor. Her stomach lurched unpleasantly when she noticed the crumpled form several meters away.

Oh gods, it wasn't a joke.

And suddenly, Jane was angry. What was she exactly to Thor, some kind of caretaker? He had promised her that he would come back for her, but instead used her as some sort of—of—errand girl? Jane crumpled the paper in her hand and marched out of the trailer and down to the figure.

"Hey," she said loudly, nudging him with her foot. Somewhere inside her, a little voice was screaming that this situation wasn't _his_ fault, but she ignored it. When the man—_Niall?_—failed to awaken, she sank down to her knees with a sigh and roughly rolled him onto his side.

He wasn't what she expected. All of the Asgardian men she had met (and granted, she hadn't met overly many of them) had been large and muscular, very much the warrior stereotype. But this man was pale and slender. He was almost frail looking, with sharp features and inky black hair. She tried to picture him wielding an axe or a sword but couldn't. He looked as though he had been dressed hastily in loose fitting, mismatched clothing.

Jane's heart softened a bit as she reminded herself, _not his fault_. She would definitely give Thor a good talking to the next time she saw him, though. She ignored the pang in her heart—_if_ there was a next time.

Suddenly with a jolt she realized there would have to be. Thor needed to get Niall back, didn't he? Well then, she smiled, he would have to go through her. And who knew? Perhaps Niall would get his memory back and they could figure out a way to Asgard before then.

Feeling more confident, Jane scooted herself backwards and gently rolled Niall the rest of the way over.

Brilliant green eyes snapped open as he lurched off of the ground, letting out a strangled yelp of pain. He pushed himself away from her, and then turned to give her an uncomplimentary glare. His eyes burned over her, judging her and seeming to find her wanting. "Who are _you_?" he demanded, voice quiet and yet full of authority.

Jane immediately took the offensive, giving him a returning glare, "Who are you?" she sent back at him.

Green eyes flashed. "I am…" the confident look faltered, "I am…" Suddenly, he looked like a lost child, as though he had taken a sure step forward only to find a gaping chasm beneath his feet. Jane's conscious gave her a sharp poke and she squirmed with guilt.

"Your name is Niall," she supplied wearily, "You lost your memory in some sort of battle, and I've been entrusted with your care for a while." She frowned, considering his immediate reaction, "Is there something wrong with your back?"

"No," he replied defensively, moving further from her. She could tell he was still thinking on what she had said, and that something wasn't matching up. "Where is this place? I do not recognize it. Or _you._"

"You're on Earth. Well, you'd know it as Midgard. My name is Jane," She was trying not to get irritated by his commanding tone, but she was failing. He repeated the name Midgard and shook his head. Jane sighed, "I don't honestly know much about you, other than that you're Thor's friend."

"_Thor!_" Those poisonous green eyes narrowed and stared intensely at her. Apparently he recognized that name. As if his pronunciation had summoned Thor himself, the sky rumbled with thunder.

"Come on, it looks like it's going to rain. We'd better go inside." Jane pushed herself to her feet and offered him her hand. Niall rose, pointedly ignoring it.

"Who is Thor?" He demanded, taking a stance that clearly pronounced he was not going to move until he got satisfactory answers. The first few drops of rain began to fall as the sky grumbled ominously. Jane floundered for a moment, trying to think of how to even begin to answer that question. "Well?" Niall pressed impatiently.

Something in Jane finally snapped. That was it; she was done enduring this man's rudeness. There was being brusque or blunt because one was scared or out of their element, and then there was just plain insolent. This man fell quite definitely in the latter category. Jane was already angry, and this situation wasn't helping. Thor had abandoned her, S.H.I.E.L.D. had shoved her off to some remote corner of the universe in disguise of being a great opportunity so that they could be rid of her, and her research was going nowhere. "The moron that landed me with you," she retorted finally, "Now you listen to me. You're going to get inside _right now_, let me check your back, and shut _up_ for a moment while I try to figure out what the hell I'm going to do with you, or you're going to leave now and wander the desert for the remainder of your sad, _pathetic_ life. And if I were you, I'd choose quickly while I still give you a choice." She glared heatedly at him, readying herself for an argument.

A myriad of emotions played across his face. Anger, resentment, disgust, and finally… amusement? She watched, bemused, as a slow smirk spread its way across his face. "Well," he responded smoothly, a new light playing in his eyes, "When you put it that way…" He swept past her and then stopped, examining her trailer with clear distaste. "Tell me this isn't your _usual_ living space." He glanced at her and when she didn't answer, turned back to give the trailer a look of consideration. "Are you being punished?"

"Just get inside," Jane told him grumpily. She got a quick flare of satisfaction when he strode regally up to the door and pulled on the door handle, only for it to stick. An irritated look flitted across his face as he yanked on it again. It came loose abruptly on his third try, and he had to stumble backwards for it to not smack him in the face. She snorted and he glowered, not bothering to look back at her before he stalked inside.

Jane caught the door before it could close again and smiled. Maybe she wouldn't replace it after all.

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks again for reading! And don't worry, they aren't suddenly going to get along. Jane may be upset with Thor, but she's still very much in love/infatuated with him. And Loki isn't exactly in the best place right now, even if he is slowly regaining his sense of humor. Let me know what you think!

Hilary


	3. Chapter Two

**A/N:** Hello again everyone! I'm very sorry for the wait-I ran into a busy period where I had my sister's bachlorette party, dress fittings, my dad's birthday, memorial day, and getting an internship set up, so I didn't have time to write. In fact, I feel like that's why this chapter's tone is a little inconsistent too, since I wrote it at a bunch of different times. Anyway, hopefully it's not quite as bad as I think it is. At least now I can move on to the fun stuff! :)

* * *

**Chapter Two**

Loki scanned the room for a place to sit for a moment before apparently deciding that standing was the better option. Keeping his back to Jane, who he heard enter behind him, he pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't remember who he was, where he'd been, or what he was doing here. To make things worse, absolutely nothing looked familiar. Even his name sounded… wrong.

The last thing he wanted to do, however, was show weakness in front of this mortal. _Mortal? He knew immediately that he was, and she wasn't. Interesting. Perhaps all he needed were the right triggers._

Jane apparently seemed to think so, too. "Well, you had a reaction to the name Thor," she noted helpfully, moving to the kitchen…area. In this pathetic excuse for a living space, the designers apparently decided it need not be a separate room. "That's good, right? So maybe we can start there. Would you like some tea?" she inquired

Loki hesitated for a moment, mentally debating the probable quality of the contents of the kettle, and then nodded resignedly. Not only was his throat dry, but it was raw and sore, as if he'd been screaming for a prolonged period of time. He frowned and rubbed his throat subconsciously. The arm movement, however, pulled at the torn muscles in his back. Loki fought down another hiss of pain as Jane eyed him suspiciously.

"Aren't you going to sit?" She asked finally as she finished the tea and poured it into two mismatched cups.

He eyed the couch distastefully. "I'd rather not."

Jane's mouth tightened slightly around the edges, but she handed him his tea and didn't comment. "So," she prompted, taking a sip, "What _do_ you remember?"

Loki considered the question, taking time to taste the tea before responding. He gritted his teeth and made what he thought was a rather valiant attempt not to gag. Still, he managed to swallow. While it might be lacking in taste, he decided, the hot tea felt good on his throat. "Not much," he finally admitted, thinking for a moment. "A grand city with tall shining towers and vast walls," he said after another pause, "Its name was… is…" he floundered.

"Asgard." Jane inserted.

Loki shot her a glare. He had _known_ that. He had. If she'd just given him another second... "Yes. Asgard. The city itself I remember… quite well." His eyes softened almost imperceptibly, "I care for it a great deal." Jane glanced up from her tea at this admission. He continued quickly to cover his momentary show of emotion, murmuring everything he could think of to himself. "Everything else is blurry or marred somehow. A room full of ancient books, a glimmering pool of water, reddish curls and a comforting smile, something… icy and cold?" his brow furrowed, "Some sort of hammer, though I don't recall its name. Someone with bright blue eyes whom I feel the overwhelming urge to hit—"

"That would be Thor," Jane supplied immediately. Loki nodded. For once, that sounded right. They were both quiet for a moment.

"He did say you were friends, and that you were guarding the castle, but—and don't take this the wrong way—you certainly don't look like a warrior. Were you some other sort of defense? Archery, maybe? Or sorcery?"

It was like a light switched on in his mind. His eyes widened as suddenly it all came flooding back to him.

No, not everything, he noted sourly a split second later. His memories of who he was and what his life had been like were still annoyingly absent. But his _knowledge_—the things he had studied for hours on end, ranging from magic and science to the history of the realms—was suddenly very much intact. Loki smirked.

His eyes fluttered closed as he reached within himself. The comforting glow of his magic embraced him, and he reopened his eyes, his smirk having morphed into a confident smile.

oooooooooo

Jane took another sip of her tea, the mischievous grin on Niall's face making her uneasy. Just as the tea reached her lips, however, his eyes flashed an iridescent green. Instantly the cup in her hand frosted over and the formerly steaming liquid inside froze solid.

Jane gasped and yanked the cup away from her mouth, dropping it in the process. Her hands flew to her lips, which burned from the touch of the dry ice. Her eyes watered with the momentary pain and she squeezed them shut. The _Bastard!_

Still, her innate scientific curiosity took over almost immediately. When Thor had visited, she had seen many things that had left her scrambling to find logical explanations. But this, _this_ was the first time that she was faced with something straight out of Dungeons and Dragons. How could you manipulate the molecular structure of the water like that without some kind of instrument? She opened her eyes to ask Niall—

Only to find him crumpled on the floor.

oooooooooo

Searing pain overcame him the moment he cast the spell, overwhelming his senses. A thousand needles pierced his skin, his blood boiled in his veins, and his head felt as though it had been clamped in a vice whose pressure was slowly being increased. He fought not to cry out,

The last thought that passed through his mind before the darkness overtook him was miserable at best.

_I've had worse._

oooooooooo

When Loki regained consciousness moments later, Jane was bent over him, concern evident on her face. Luckily, he had fallen face forward and not on his back, and Jane had apparently had the good sense not to flip him over this time.

Slowly he sat up. His body ached, and he tried not to shake with the small tremors of pain that still moved through it. Immediately his eyes went to the previously unnoticed object that now burned on his flesh.

A slender golden bracelet encircled his wrist, gleaming innocently in the dim light of the trailer. It was, clearly, some sort of inhibitor. It wasn't stopping his magic, but the pain had been intense enough to make him lose his concentration. Anything more complicated than freezing Jane's tea would be nearly impossible.

Loki knew he would normally be enraged, but at the moment he felt so hollow inside that he couldn't quite manage it. This was just one more thing that had been lost to him.

"Are you okay?" Jane asked quietly. Loki flinched, startled. He had entirely forgotten she was there, watching him closely.

"Why would someone put that on you?" she asked, frowning as she moved over to investigate. Jane reached for his wrist, intent on examining the slim golden object. Loki snarled and jerked back, giving her his frostiest glare.

Jane stared at him in shock for a moment, and then glared right back. Her arms crossed over her chest. "Never mind," she told him acerbically, "I think I understand completely. God you're an ass, you know that? I was only going to help, but _no_, no you go right ahead and wallow in your own pain. See if I care."

He smirked slightly, which only made her more irritated. "I'm making myself some fresh tea and going to my room," Jane grumbled, pushing herself up to her feet. "Let me know if you decide to become a _civil_ human bein—Asgardian, and if you're _lucky_ I might help you." She promptly grabbed several books off of the pile on the coffee table and stormed to her room, forgetting about the tea entirely.

oooooooooo

Ten minutes later, Jane was feeling guilty. She wasn't exactly sure what the bracelet had done to him, but it seemed like it had caused him some sort of pain. Wouldn't anyone react poorly after that? She shifted uncomfortably, cursing her conscience. Sighing, she tried to focus on her book to no avail.

Should she go apologize? Jane considered it for a moment, before remembering the little smug look he had gotten at her outburst, as if he had found it amusing. Angry with him all over again, she tried for a second time to focus on her book. She wasn't doing too much better when suddenly her cell vibrated.

Jane reached for it in relief, glad to have something to distract her from her current… _problem._ She glanced down at the text.

_Mr. Stark would like you to call him at 6:07 regarding your previous communication. _

Either Tony had finally gone off the deep end and begun referring to himself in third person (which, Jane admitted to herself, wouldn't _entirely_ surprise her) or he had Jarvis sending his text messages for him. Jane smiled and shook her head slightly. Honestly, all of that intelligence, and he spent most of it coming up with new ways to be lazy.

Jane's eyes went to the time on the phone. It was 5:00. God, she only had another hour to come up with something useful. Frustrated she opened the book again. After reading the same paragraph five times she slammed it shut and ran a hand through her hair, trying not to scream.

She was sure that by now she'd have more luck researching interdimensional and space travel, but nothing in the textbooks seemed to match up with what she actually knew. She sighed. It was too bad that Thor wasn't here, or even any other Asgardian that knew about—

Jane sat up straight. _Duh_, stupid! She had an Asgardian who had that information locked up in his brain somewhere. She just had to find a way to access it. So she'd just invite Tony over, explain to him what happened, and… Jane frowned. Wait, did Tony count as part of S.H.I.E.L.D.? She supposed he did, now. Well then, she'd find a way around it. There was no way she was going to _not_ take advantage of the Asgardian she was being forced to babysit.

Jane's smile slid off of her face when she heard the door to her trailer open.

oooooooooo

Loki hissed as he peeled the shirt from his back, wincing every time it got stuck on an area where the blood had dried and fused to the fabric. Finally it came free, and he tenuously touched one of the wounds. Immediately he jerked his fingers away from it. The wounds _stung_, maybe even more than they normally should, he thought.

He was just about to look for a bowl and towel of some sort when he heard someone at the door. Loki froze, unsure what to do as another young woman barreled inside, already talking.

"Hey Jane! I know you totally weren't expecting company but I just found out you were in the area and couldn't help but stop by—" her eyes finally found Loki, and they widened. "Oh. Wow. Hi."

Jane came barreling out of her room and threw herself between the two. Then she saw who it was. "Darcy!" she exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Darcy shrugged, "Visiting. Do I need a reason? Although it appears that I should visit more often—why do you always get to have hot shirtless guys around? Not that I'm complaining," she added quickly, peering over Jane's shoulder.

"What hot… oh god. No Darce, you definitely aren't interested in him. Total jerk, I promise. Anyway, why don't you come back at a later time—maybe sometime next week? I'm a little busy…" Jane kept talking to a now slightly sulking Darcy, but Loki became bored with their chatter and turned back to the kitchen area to find a bowl.

Darcy let out a strangled noise that was something between a shriek and a gasp. Jane whirled around to see what he was doing _now_ and paled considerably. "Oh my god," she murmured. Loki ignored them, managing to find a bowl. He began filling it with steaming water.

Jane stood frozen to the spot as he filled it, and then suddenly ran to a closet and grabbed a cloth. "Here, sit down and I can—" She stopped as he took the cloth and breezed past her. "Just where do you think you're going?" Jane demanded, following him. Loki went into the (tiny) bathroom and tried to shut the door, but she wedged herself between it and the wall. "You are _not_ attempting to treat that alone."

"It will be fine," his annoyance was evident in his voice.

"It won't just be _fine_," Jane replied, incredulous, "Niall, I'm not sure there's any _skin_ left on your back. That's not _fine_."

"You are not touching me."

"Oh for the love of—Wait, Darcy, give me that." There was a pause as presumably Darcy handed something to Jane. Loki's eyes narrowed at the slender pink and silver metal case that Jane held aloft. It made a strange sound, and Jane grinned triumphantly. "There!" She exclaimed, turning the box towards him so that he could see an image of himself captured on its screen. "If you don't cooperate, this goes _viral_ on the internet. And in case you don't understand that, it means that millions of useless mortals around the world will see you bleeding in some mortal's shabby little bathroom."

"Uh, Jane?" Darcy's voice was muffled through the door, "That's really not too threatening…Wait, did you say mortals? Does that mean that he's—" Jane silenced her with a look.

Loki's lips thinned. It shouldn't bother him. It shouldn't. Who cared what millions of puny mortals thought of him? What did it matter if they saw him broken and bleeding in a trailer? What did it… No, he grit his teeth, it was pathetic, but it _mattered._ "Fine," he shoved the large bowl into her hands, letting the water slosh onto her a bit for his own gratification.

Then he opened the door and slipped past her back to the living room, pretending that was what he meant to do the entire time.

"Darce, please go," Loki heard Jane murmur to her friend, "You can come back tomorrow or something if you want to, but let me deal with this first. I'll even actually introduce you and everything, and maybe he'll remember his manners."

Reluctantly, Darcy nodded and moved to the door. She grinned and gave him a little wave goodbye (which he pointedly ignored) and then stepped outside. Jane took another moment to grab a first aid kit and some peroxide.

"What, exactly, do you believe you're going to do with that?" Loki asked her smoothly when she returned.

"There's some medicine in here for the wounds, and the peroxide should disinfect—"

"_Human_ wounds. _Human_ medicine," his lip curled a bit, "Are you certain it will have the same affect on me?" Jane was about to retort that yes, she was, but then begrudgingly realized he had a point. She still grabbed a couple of rolls of bandages out of the first aid kit.

"Those won't be necessary either," Loki sounded almost bored as she wet the cloth, his eyes on the bandages. "I will heal fine without them."

She pressed the cloth between his shoulder blades only a _tad_ harder than she should have and mentally complimented herself on her restraint. "No, you won't. Because if you don't wear them, you're going to get blood and pus and god knows what else all over your clothing or worse, my home."

His sudden grin was startling. "Ah yes, I wouldn't want to ruin your priceless furniture. And All-Father knows these fine clothes are certainly worth saving. Perhaps you can sell them for coin at the closest market."

oooooooooo

Jane glanced at his tattered clothing and her mouth twitched slightly. "Just because my furniture is junk doesn't mean I want you _bleeding_ all over it." She rinsed out the cloth and tried not to focus too much on just how awful his back was. "Ugh, what happened to you?" she finally asked him.

Niall shot her a venomous glance. Right, Jane remembered, no memory. Still, this didn't quite match up with Thor's message. "These wounds… it's almost like the skin has _disintegrated_ off of your back. That doesn't sound like a battle to me. More like some form of torture."

"Because you're the local expert on Asgardian weaponry, sorcery, and battle wounds," he replied dryly. Once again, she was forced to concede to his logic. They were both quiet for a moment as Jane wrung out the cloth and went to go change the water. She hesitated for a moment before finally bringing up the topic she was most interested in.

"So do you remember anything about how you got here?" Jane hurried on when he turned to give her a quizzical glance, "It's just that, well, I've been monitoring the atmospheric changes with my equipment and there was no sign of any disturbance at all—well besides this storm, of course, but I mean an _unnatural_ disturbance—and I was hoping maybe you remembered even a little bit of your journey here because I should have been able to detect another wormhole opening but my sensors didn't discern anything at all."

Niall's eyebrows had risen considerably while she rambled, and when she finally fell silent he said, "Your _what _should have detected me?"

Jane stared blankly at him, then suddenly realized that he most likely didn't use that term on Asgard. "Oh! Oh, right." How could she explain her scientific instruments to an Asgardian? "Um, well I guess they're kind of like… magic? I mean, it should have detected any atmospheric anomalies like a wormhole and, um, made me aware of its existence."

"I see. Why would an instrument such as this be searching for worms when it is focused on the atmosphere?"

Jane blinked, and then mentally groaned. This was going to be annoying. "A wormhole is the human word for the Bifrost effect. What I wanted to know is if the Bifrost is operational again, or if you were forced to use the tesseract." She spoke slowly, as if to a child.

"I cannot recall. I just remember falling, and a great deal of pain." His voice was bitter.

"Oh," Jane bit her lip, "I can't imagine Thor causing you pain on purpose. Maybe something went wrong? So it hurt badly when you fell?"

He didn't respond for a moment, and for a moment Jane thought he was angry again. Then he looked back at her, eyes sparkling devilishly. "Was that a pick-up line?"

Jane's brow furrowed as she tried to process what he was saying. "What do you mean?"

His smirk grew, "You asked if it hurt when I fell. As I recall, by human custom that's the equivalent of asking someone whether or not they're an angel, which is a celestial being found in certain human religions."

Now Jane was entirely confused. _Why_ had they deviated from her original question? Then, suddenly, it hit her. "How do you know what a pick-up line is? And for that matter, how do you know anything about human religions?"

His green eyes widened innocently, "I know quite a bit about humans. In fact, I know quite a bit about _many_ different realms. I apparently studied them all rather intensely."

Jane carefully set the cloth back down in the bowl and gave him an irritated look, "Then you already knew what a wormhole was."

He smirked, "Yes, Jane, I know what a wormhole is."

"And you apparently have your complete intellectual memory?" She was getting more annoyed with him by the second. And he, apparently, was having a rather good time of it.

"As far as I can tell, yes." He was examining his nails casually now, probably to irritate her further.

"You bastard." Jane picked up the bandages, but Niall jerked away from her, suddenly tense.

"You will _not_ address me like that again. _Ever_." He hissed, eyes flashing with anger.

Jane just stared at him incredulously. He'd gone from being snippy, to being sulky, to being congenial, and then back to snippy again. "Your mood swings are giving me whiplash," she muttered sourly.

She watched as slowly the tension left his body, and didn't even have to look up to know he was wearing his trademark smirk again. Jane gathered up the bowl and the cloth and took them to the sink, wondering how she was going to be able to put up with this for god knows how long.

Out of everyone Thor could have left for her to babysit, he left her with the damn _psychopath._

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you for reading everyone! I really feel like this was a tedious though necessary chapter. Exposition exposition... Oh well. Hopefully I managed to make it somewhat entertaining, although it's currently three in the morning and I'm not sure that it honestly turned out well at all.

But the good news is that next chapter should prove rather entertaining, at least for me. I love Tony Stark's character, and the way he interacts with Loki. At the very least, the next chapter shouldn't be as _boring_ as this one. And Loki will probably not be quite as bipolar.

Thank you again! Please let me know what you think.

Hilary


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